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O2 Broadband
O2 Broadband (www.O2.co.uk) launched in October 2007 and having listened to broadband customer gripes, was intent on being a “breath of fresh air” for broadband customers everywhere.
The mobile phone provider is offering three packages, priced differently for O2 pay-monthly customers and non-O2 or O2 pay-as-you-go customers. For those already on, or willing to take, a mobile contract with the provider these packages are very competitively priced.
As a relatively new provider to the market, O2 Broadband hasn’t been around for long. However, Be Broadband, owned by O2 and whose network O2 Broadband will use, has a good reputation for providing good, steady speeds and the fastest ADSL connections in the UK, with speeds of up to 24Mb.
O2 offers three broadband packages, priced differently depending on whether or not you have an O2 mobile contract. All offer “unlimited” downloads, subject to a fair usage policy.
O2’s Standard 8Mb package costs £7.50 a month or £12.50 a month for non-O2 customers, its Premium 16Mb package costs £10 a month or £15 a month for non-O2 customers and its top Ultimate package costs £15 a month or £20 a month for non-O2 customers.
O2 will conduct a line test before connecting customers, and inform them of their expected speed so that they can sign them up to the appropriate package. It will conduct a second speed test a month later to ensure that customers are not paying for an unobtainable speed.
All customers will also receive a free wireless router with simple plug-and-play set-up, free, 24-hour, UK-based technical support and customer service and free McAfee security and parental controls as well as additional extras for O2 mobile customers.
Customers must sign a 12 month contract and will be subject to a fair usage policy for downloads. Non-O2 mobile customers will also pay a higher monthly rate than those with pay-monthly mobile contracts.
However, at launch, O2 Broadband was only available to 50 per cent of the UK.
Pay-monthly customers can not only take advantage of cheaper broadband costs, but can also have emails from their O2 accounts pushed forward to their mobiles for free and up to 100 free texts from their PC every month.
And O2 is so proud of its broadband service that it is offering any customers who sign up before the end of March 2008 a 100-day money-back guarantee. This means that if you’re not satisfied with the service or aren’t getting the speeds you were expecting, you’ll be able to terminate your contract without incurring any fines.
Although it’s still early days for O2, it has already made the Eptitro top five list of broadband providers. Eptitro is an independent broadband benchmarking company, and although it tends to concentrate on the bigger ISPs, O2’s entry in the second half of 2007 for technical performance is still a positive accreditation for the company.
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